


InquisiTOPH!

by bg3929



Series: Alternate Inquisitions [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU, Crossover, Gen, I play fast and loose with the Spirityness of it all, Shenanigans, Thedas won't know what hit it, Toph ain't here for your ableist/racist/classist bullshit, Worldbuilding?, clashing magic systems, up first we have Toph Beifong as Inquisitor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-03-27 17:51:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13885998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bg3929/pseuds/bg3929
Summary: Anyone who has read any of my work -here or over on FanFiction *shudders at memories of Middle School!me* knows that I enjoy crossovers, the more out-there the better. This is one of several ideas that has been floating around my phone's notes for AGES that has finally been expanded in a burst of inspiration. So, I present to you, InquisiTOPH!: where a post-canon Toph Beifong is sucked into the world of Dragon Age and takes on the role of Inquisition's protagonist. Strap in and enjoy.





	1. Toph Beifong and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to InquisiTOPH!! I'm glad you're here. If you like Dragon Age getting turned on its head, then BOY are you in the right place! I don't know how regular updates will be, but feel free to bookmark this work and/or bother me in the comments about it. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for coming, and happy reading! :)

1)

 

      Upon regaining her jumbled senses, Toph Beifong's initial thoughts were ones of confusion over her situation. Quickly, however, her mental state shifted again from surprised to affronted. What kind of idiots had kidnapped her this time? She’d thought those two clowns her parents had hired during the war had been incompetent, but Toph was forced to redefine the word thanks to her current kidnappers. She figured they must actually be brain damaged to have secured TOPH BEIFONG with METAL handcuffs in an UNDERGROUND prison. 

  
  


      Honestly, the 14 year old Master Earthbender was actually too dumbfounded by her captor's sheer stupidity to be upset about being abducted (again). She was a famous war hero and the founder of the first and only Metalbending Academy in the world. What kind of rock had these idiots been under to have literally placed their supposed prisoner in a room made of her weapon? No, even living under a rock was too good for these-

The young teen's inner rant was cut off as she felt two (metally armored!) figures descending the stairs in front of her.

  
  
  


"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now?"

 

Toph snorted, her veneer of bravado rising up to mask her conflicted emotions. "Look Lady, if you numbskulls are working for the Loser Lord, then you should already know how this is gonna end."

 

There was a beat of silence before the prickly reply. "Who is this lord of which you speak?!?" She spat, equal parts anger and confusion.

  
  


Toph’s ears twitced at the unfamiliar accent and filed that little detail away for later. Right now, she had a pair of buffoons to deal with.

  
  


"You know, the Phoenix King of Getting His Butt Kicked?" More silence. "The man formerly known as Firelord Ozai?" 

  
  


At this the angry lady seemed to grow in size, filled with righteous fury. "Firelord? Are you implying that I'm taking orders from some Mage proclaiming himself a king?!!"

 

"No." Replied Toph, her nose scrunched up in disgust. "I'm saying that you are followers of Ozai, former ruler of the Fire Nation and winner or the #1 Worst Dad Award 18 years running." The Blind Bandit paused for a moment, cocking her head in confusion. "What is a mage, anyways? Is that some country-bumpkin way of referring to a Bender?"

 

“Bender?”

 

“Yeah, you know-“ the Earthbender flicked her wrists theatrically, sending the metal manacles flying from her wrists and smacking against the cell wall with a resounding ‘clank’. “bending.”

  
  


The woman leapt at Toph like a snarling tigerdillo, and the Earthbending master slid down into a defensive horse stance in case she had to protect herself from an incoming attack. The move ultimately proved unnecessary, as the raging woman was restrained by her lighter-footed colleague.

 

“We need her, Cassandra.”

  
  


      Cassandra’s body was still rife with tension, but she took a step back, her clear displeasure evident in the rough way she crossed her arms across her body. The childish act was accented by the metallic clang of her gauntlets banging against her breastplate and each other, the only reminder for Toph at the moment that she was facing down a warrior and not a whiny little kid.

  
  


The more reasonable one (in Toph’s limited experience at least) leaned over and whispered something in Cassandra’s ear. Her response was a disgusted but acquiescent snort. The other woman then turned on her heel and silently made her way back up the stone steps into the building above. 

  
  


Cassandra too remained silent for a moment, still (presumably) glaring moodily at Toph. Then, in a surprisingly friendly gesture, leaned in and offered the girl a hand up.

 

“Come, there are grave matters to attend to.”

  
  


The young earthbender decided to take it, wanting to keep up friendly terms with the woman. It wasn’t like she feared her, what with all the metal she had on her, but Toph didn’t really want to be ranted at again. Her yelling was annoying.

  
  


She should have known better than to expect Cassandra to be all rainbows and sunshine now. A gauntleted hand slid up Toph’s arm and came to rest on her shoulder, squeezing tightly.

 

“Try to attack me or escape and you  _ will _ regret it.”

 

Blind eyes rolled at the threat, but Toph managed to hold her tongue as she followed the heavily-armored woman up the steps and out into the cool air.

  
  


 

* * *

  
  


      Toph’s teeth chattered behind her lips as she trailed Cassandra through a tiny, snow-covered village. She had managed to keep from getting frostbite on her toes thus far by bringing up small pads of earth to meet her feet rather than stepping down into the snow, but the ground was still cold enough to be rather uncomfortable to her sensitive soles. Nobody else seemed to notice the creative use of bending, as the protrusions didn’t rise above the snow line, and everyone was either running around like a pig-chicken with its head cut off or standing around and calling out about some ‘Conclave’ and ‘Divine’ with elevated heartbeats. Toph couldn’t be sure of their exact positions or numbers, as the fluffy layer of snow everywhere fuzzied her ‘vision’, but she knew that there was enough chaos to classify the village as being in a general state of panic.

  
  


The pair had just about reached the village’s outskirts, and Toph had thought them home-free, when a searing pain ignited in the palm of her left hand. She dropped to her knees with a cry. The limb had ached since her rude dungeon awakening, but that pain had been easily pushed aside as Toph focused her attention on more pressing matters. Now, she fell and shoved it into the snow, desperate to do something to relieve the pain. 

  
  


The snow immersion didn’t work to ease the agony, but eventually the pain ebbed on its own, and she shakily brought her numb hand close to her face to check if she was bleeding. There was no scent of blood in the air, but it did smell like the sky just after a lightning strike, and Toph could hear and feel a soft buzzing hum vibrating a line across her palm. In her confusion, she hardly noticed Cassandra approaching from behind. A palm landed on her shoulder, this time gently, as the woman once again offered Toph a hand up.

 

“Every time the Breach expands so does your mark, and it’s killing you.” The woman offered as a consoling-sounding explanation, as if that sentence was supposed to mean anything.

  
  


“There’s a mark? And what the heck do you mean by ‘the Breach’?” Toph was prickly with her reply, withdrawing herself from Cassandra’s grasp at the soonest possible juncture once she was steady on her feet. She cradled her bad arm close to her chest, using the other to rub at the pained area on her palm.

  
  


The sound Cassandra made could only be described as an undignified squawk. “Of course there’s a mark!” she barked “And only a blind man could miss the giant hole in the sky!”

  
  


“Well, I’m no man, but-“ began Toph, sass about her condition almost easier and more automatic than breathing, but once the woman’s words truly registered, her dull grey-green eyes flew impossibly wide. “Wait. There’s a  _ hole _ in the  _ sky _ !?!”

  
  


The young earthbender articulated her exclamation with a hand gesture, arm extended back behind her body and index finger pointed accusingly towards the sky, coincidentally in the direction  _ opposite _ of the Breach.

  
  


 

* * *

  
  


Cassandra was silent for a moment, blinking slowly as she processed the scene before her. Was it possible that the prisoner... was blind? That would explain some of the confusion and accusations... but not the frightening display of magic that had sent the manacles flying at the flick of a wrist. Yes, the prisoner may be blind, but they were also far from harmless, and Cassandra was uneasy about letting such a powerful individual roam free without supervision. She had just resolved to keep up her bulwark attitude when the bridge behind her exploded at the impact of several demons falling from the Breach like meteorites.

  
  


      The Seeker was thrown bodily backwards by the force of the landing, skidding down the embankment before coming to an abrupt stop as the hard edges of her armor bit into the surface of the ice like the ragged front teeth of an ice-skate. Stunned, she lay on her back and gazed at the Breach-filled sky. It swirled violently, flashing different shades of emerald here and there as it ejected demons into the mortal plane. Cassandra watched the movements with a kind of wide-eyed wonder. Here, in the silence after the fall, the tear in the veil was almost... beautiful. 

  
  


      With a great gasp of air and a ringing in her ears, Cassandra jackknifed upright, banishing the traitorous thought as she regained her senses along with her breath. Her eyes focused and cleared, already drawn to the nearest source of movement like a predator searching for prey. They immediately caught on to the ghastly, glowing forms of the demons as they rose from the rubble that was once a bridge and began floating menacingly towards her sightless charge. Cassandra felt the urge to yell out, but was stopped when it was obvious the action would be moot. Not quick enough to aid in the fight, she was, though, just in time to see the prisoner’s abilities in action once more. 

  
  
  


      The shattered bits of the stone bridge were now being used as projectiles, launched at the shades as they got within a certain distance of the prisoner, one which allowed for too small a margin between milky white flesh and gnarled clawed fingers for the Seeker to be completely comfortable with. She struggled to her feet and drew her sword, charging into the fray with a ferocious yell.

  
  


     What Cassandra didn’t know was that Toph was fighting her attackers using sound alone. The earthbender had no way of perceiving the floating, spirit-like enemies other than by ear. They made a kind of hissy-gurgling noise, which Toph assumed came from nothing good, so she launched a boulder in its direction whenever she heard the unpleasant sound. Unfortunately, Cassandra’s battle cry temporarily drowned out that noise, allowing for one of the demons to come in close and score a hit across the chest-piece of the prototype Metalbender Armor Toph had been testing with Kato. The girl was pushed off balance, but quickly regained it by moving one of her feet backwards and rooting it solidly to the earth. With a vicious uppercut, Toph sent a pillar of rock right into the center of mass of the creature, which she had finally gotten a look at the second it’s decrepit claws had made contact with the surface of Toph’s armor. It let out a dying screech-yell and then just sort of... liquified, most of its mass disappearing in a strange cloudy puff. 

  
  


      Toph paused then to wait and listen for more enemies, but the only thing she could hear was Cassandra’s ragged breath as she used the snow to wipe the goo off of her own weapon of choice; a sweet sword the earthbender figured would have Sokka drooling in envy. He never really  _ had _ gotten over the loss of his Space Sword, and brought up how he had nobly sacrificed it to save Toph’s life whenever the two of them happened to be in the vicinity of any kind of weapons shop. Toph always blatantly refused to take the hint. It’s not like she  _ made _ him throw it off of an airship! Plus, she’d already thanked him profusely in the form of a bruising punch to the arm. Anything else would go against her principals of friendship, which was something that would not even happen if she were on her deathbed. Let it never be said that Toph Beifong played favorites.

  
  


“You really are...?” asked Cassandra softly, trailing off as she eyed the vicious scratch on the prisoner’s armor.

  
  


Toph scowled, pretty sure she knew what the lady was staring at. She raised her right hand and waved it over her chest, smoothing out the deformities immediately.

  
  


“What kind of magic is that?” Cassandra questioned, startled at the change but not seeing or sensing even the faintest hint of magic.

  
  


Toph rolled her eyes. “It’s not magic, it’s  _ bending _ .”

  
  


“So you’re saying you are not a mage?”

  
  


It took everything Toph had not to growl. “Look, Lady, I’ve been all over the world and I have never met a single mage in my life. But honestly, that’s beside the point. Don’t you have bigger problems to worry about right now, like, oh I don’t know, A HOLE IN THE SKY?!?”

  
  


Cassandra had not felt so thoroughly chastened for well over a decade. She stood and stared at the strange prisoner in absolute silence for some time before signing deeply and slumping from her rigid posture. “Very well.” she announced wearily, beginning to trek down the embankment once more. “If you’re as eager to help as you seem, the fastest way to get to our destination is to cross the frozen lake and make our way upriver for a time.”

  
  


“No freakin’ way!” exclaimed Toph, folding her arms across her chest. “Last time I tried to take a shortcut across ice I accidentally kissed a girl and then almost got eaten by a sea monster. Nope, I’m staying right here on solid earth where my feet can see.” The teenager literally and metaphorically dug her heels in, and it was a tragedy that there was nobody around to witness the expression on Cassandra’s face.

  
  


“Ugh.” she exclaimed in disgust, resigning herself to a long day of trying to wrangle the ridiculous prisoner. And she’d thought Varric Tethras was bad...

 


	2. Mr. Bologna and the Buzzy Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Toph kicks ass and takes names.

2)

  
  
  


      In the end, Cassandra had to compromise and take the long way around the lake. The prisoner had been unyielding, going so far as to turn her back on Cassandra and attempt to make her way along the rim of the lake herself, which was an unmitigated disaster as her first instinct was to head directly towards another cluster of demons. (Toph had, of course, done so on purpose as to force her jailer to follow her, but she’d never admit it to the annoying lady, not even under duress.) While it was slower going than Cassandra would have liked, the pair still made good time and soon found themselves at the bottom of a long set of stone steps that led up a ridge.

  
  


“There’s a Rift up ahead,” announced Cassandra, squinting into the distance in an attempt to see what fresh horrors could be waiting for them there. It must have worked, because a few seconds into the action her body suddenly went rigid. “They are holding the demons back, we must help them!” 

  
  


      The Seeker made an attempt to grasp Toph’s wrist and guide her towards the fight, but the independent teen roughly pulled her arm away and fell perfectly into step behind the older woman as she made a mad-dash up the hill.

  
  


“Who’s they?” questioned Toph. She could hear the sounds of battle and sense a few people fighting near the crest of the hill, but none of that helped her to figure out the identities of the combatants in question. Their fighting forms, armors, and weapons were unlike any she had ever ‘seen’.

  
  


“You’ll se-“ called back Cassandra, cutting herself off abruptly when she realized what she was saying. Toph just snorted. It was always like this, new people walking on eggshells around her as to not ‘offend her delicate sensibilities’ (yes, Toph’s inner voice there had sounded suspiciously like her father). The lady would learn soon though. They always did. Toph Beifong’s skin was too thick to be bothered by something as silly as a misplaced metaphor. She’d cut her trash-talking teeth in the Earth Rumble arena: there were very,  _ very _ few ways to truly offend the Blind Bandit with words alone. Plus, anyone who did? They experienced a beatdown of epic proportions courtesy of the World’s Greatest Earthbender, which was usually enough to put a person off of trash-talk for a very long time. If they even retained the ability of speech once she was done with them, that is.

  
  
  


      It wasn’t long before the two women reached the site of the struggle. This one was louder than the one at the bridge, the jubilant shouts of greeting and the clanging of weapons and armor nearly drowning out the hissing noises Toph had used to locate her opponents in the previous battle. But that was fine by her. This time she was in her element, not fighting from an island of earth amidst a sea of ice and snow. The arena for the next fight consisted of a cobblestone courtyard, one that was littered with rubble and relatively clear of the cold, fluffy menace that greatly muffled Toph’s ‘vision’. It was exactly the kind of place The Blind Bandit had always preferred when cracking some heads. Best of all, the enemies here also had a bit more of a presence, their semi-ghostly forms making contact with the stone-paved ground more solidly than their snow-gliding predecessors. ‘Vision’ fully functional again at last, the young earthbender couldn’t help but grin as she cracked her knuckles in preparation for a beatdown.

  
  


    Yes, all things considered, Toph Beifong was  _ absolutely _ in her element in this fight, and she made that fact clear from the very start. Her first move was to launch a huge chunk of stone (a cemented group of rectangular blocks that had to have broken off from a tower or wall), sending it flying into the forms of two slightly-separated enemies and crushing them to nothing with a simple thrust of her arms. The rest of Toph’s moves were less impressive, but still took similar advantage of her environment, launching smaller bits of rubble (though still all quiet substantial in size for a projectile) into the backs of enemies who were otherwise focused on engaging her allies. With powerhouses like Toph and Cassandra now in the mix, it took practically no time at all for the group to completely vanquish their beastly foes. The once-flagging fighters let out a jubilant cry of victory, thrusting their goo-soiled weapons high into the air. 

  
  


      Hardly a second had passed after the last of the creatures had dissolved away when a willowy man with a metal-tipped staff ran to Toph’s side.

  
  


“Quickly, before more come through!” he yelled, grasping her left hand firmly and thrusting it upwards like the other warriors had done to their own arms. The pain and buzzing  sensation across her palm intensified for a moment, and there was a sudden, loud, whooshing-crackling sound, followed by blessed silence.

  
  


“Owwwwwuh!” whined Toph, using the most grating tone (and as a teenaged girl, that was quite grating indeed) she could possibly produce as to punish the stranger for his trespass. She ripped her hand back from him and glared fiercely as she yet again rubbed at her aching palm.

 

“What did you do?!” she snapped.

  
  


“ _ I _ did nothing. The credit is yours.” he replied, putting on airs of false humility that even a yuppie like Twinkletoes would have seen through. Worse, his response set off Toph’s bologna detector. AKA the one that went off when someone was very carefully  _ not _ lying to her, but still hiding something.

  
  


“Suuure. Maybe I’d believe you if I knew what just happened -other than my hand going all vibratey and stuff getting real noisy for a second there. I know s _ omething _ must have gone down, but whatever it was obviously didn’t solve all of our problems, because somehow I think sourpuss over there-” Toph jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Cassandra. “would be a little more excited if I’d just fixed the sky hole.”

  
  


“In a manner of speaking, you  _ did _ fix the sky hole -at least a small part of it. Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand, and I theorized that the mark might be able to close the smaller tears in the veil that have opened in the Breach’s wake. It seems I was correct.” The dude seemed entirely too pleased with himself for a guy confirming theories about the apocalypse, and Toph was uncomfortably reminded of the professor who had remained behind in the library to die surrounded by all the lost knowledge of world rather than escape with the others when she failed at keeping it from sinking into the sandy sea.

 

“Meaning it could also close the Breach itself.” added Cassandra superfluously, bringing the young teenager’s attention back to the present. She was pointedly ignoring Toph’s little dig entirely in the face of the first bit of good news she’d had since the disaster at the Conclave.

  
  


“Possibly.” admitted the shifty man almost grudgingly. Then he turned his attention back to Toph. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.” His statement was delivered with appropriate gravity, but Toph could sense traces of some other emotions churning beneath the surface. This guy was definitely somebody Toph was gonna keep an eye on, so to speak.

  
  


“Good to know! Here I thought we’d be ass-deep in demons forever.” Piped up another of the creature-fighters, his voice jovial as he made his way over to the conversing trio. He was short but solid, and Toph thought he was built like an earthbender, but he was apparently an archer, on account of the way he was lugging around a crossbow almost as large as he was.

  
  


“ [ Varric Tethras ](http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Codex_entry%3A_Varric_Tethras_\(Inquisition\)) : rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong.” He introduced himself with no small amount of charm, and Toph could hear the grin in his voice as he offered her a hand to shake.

  
  


“Toph Beifong: Earth Rumble champion, bending instructor, and toughest member of Team Avatar. Nice to meet you.” she clasped his arm, and was surprised to sense no change in his heartbeat at the revelation. Even nearly a year and a half after the end of the war, most people still suffered at least a  _ little _ hero-worship when introduced to one of the members of the team that had saved the world.

  
  


“You may reconsider that stance, in time.” grumbled Mr. Bologna, apparently a little peeved at Varric for stealing his thunder.

  
  


Varric took the man’s jab in stride and fired one of his own right back. 

 

“ Aww. I’m sure we’ll become great friends in the valley, Solas.” He turned to address his original quarry in a less sarcastic tone. ”You too Toph... eeeeeven if I have no idea what the heck you just said.”

  
  


Any explanation Toph had wanted to give the man was headed off by an outburst from Cassandra. “Absolutely not! Your help is appreciated, Varric, but…”

  
  


The self-proclaimed tag-along interrupted the stalwart woman with a snort. “Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker? Your soldiers aren’t in control anymore. You need me.”

 

       The woman let out a disgruntled noise Toph had already come to associate with begrudging acceptance, offering no other comment as Varric took up a post at her side.

  
  


With that drama over, Mr. Bologna decided to follow in Varric’s footsteps and share his name with the class.

  
  


“My name is  [ Solas ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fdragonage.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FCodex_entry%3A_Solas&t=NjY0MWQ0MzdlOWFjMTU1YzAzMmQzZWY0MjM0YWUxMjRmNjM5ODkxMCwxaWdOcnYyNQ%3D%3D&b=t%3AmQjOhdFgbPkXjVGZihVwMQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fdragonagetranscripts.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F140393225747%2Fthe-wrath-of-heaven-3-at-the-first-rift&m=1) , if there are to be introductions. I’m pleased to see you still live.”

  
  


“He means, ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.'” supplied Varric helpfully.

  
  


Toph felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Maybe she should cut this ‘Solas’ some slack. 

 

“Huh, thanks.”

  
  


Solas smiled at her a bit grimly. “Thank me if we manage to close the Breach without killing you in the process.” 

 

He then, to her displeasure, cut Toph out of the conversation again, turning to address Cassandra instead. “Cassandra, you should know: the magic involved here is unlike any I have ever seen.”

 

Ugh. Maybe Toph had been too quick with the whole ‘slack-cutting’ thing, if he was going to bring up  _ that _ nonsense again.

  
  


“Your prisoner is clearly a mage, but somehow her connection to the Fade has been rendered invisible to detection. I can only assume it is by some bizarre side-effect from the mark.” He paused as if in thought, tilting his head curiously. “The phenomenon is beyond anything I have ever encountered, and I find it extremely difficult to imagine any mage having such power.” 

  
  


“For the last time, I’m a bender not a mage!” said Toph hotly, stomping at the ground like an angry ostrich-horse and causing fissures to form for an area of several feet around the point of impact.

  
  


“From what I gathered speaking with her earlier, I believe she grew up among Children of the Stone.” Cassandra spoke in that tone people used when talking about someone they pitied right in front of their face. Toph wanted to hit something. Preferably  _ Cassandra’s _ big dumb face. She settled instead for sarcasm.

 

“Woooow. An Earthbender from the Earth Kingdom. How’d you figure  _ that _ one out, genius?”

 

Toph’s comment went completely ignored once again.

  
  


“What makes you say that, Seeker?” Varric clearly wanted in on the conversation, speaking with an edge of shrewdness he’d previously cloaked with his affable nature.

  
  


“She claims to have never met a mage nor interacted with magic, and based on her accent and untreated blindness I believe her.”

  
  


Solas seemed to take that as some kind of cue, holding his hand up just in front of Toph’s eyes and doing something to make it buzz and emit a faint puff of warm air against Toph’s face. “Hmm. Interesting. I must have been too focused on containing the mark to notice her condition during the initial treatment.”

  
  


“Whatever, dude. I’m alive and kicking, so shouldn’t we be getting this show on the road?”

  
  


“I agree.” said Cassandra, making Toph’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “We must get to the forward camp quickly. We can discuss the...  _ other matters _ ... with Leliana once we are safely behind the barricade.”

  
  


An atmosphere of grim determination settled across the group as they followed Cassandra’s lead and formed a single-file line behind the Seeker. Toph took up the second position, happy to let the person who actually knew where they were going take the lead. Solas followed closely on here heels, barrier spell at the ready in case he had to defend his party from attack at a moment’s notice. At the rear was their archer and longest distance fighter, Varric, who grinned as he adjusted his prized weapon.

 

“Well, Bianca’s excited!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I can't believe I just nicknamed Solas 'Mr. Bologna', but Toph has spoken. Stay tuned for more shenanigans from our favorite Earthbender. ; ) )


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fighting (both verbal and physical), and the gang finally reaches the forward camp.

3)

  
  
  
  


      Much to Cassandra’s annoyance, Varric did not wait until they regrouped with Leliana to once again ‘poke the bear’, so to speak. The party had encountered several more groups of demons, and the icy landscape had forced Toph to resume her former battle tactic of ‘playing it by ear’. She hung back by Varric, launching her own attacks towards where she could sense the metal heads of the archer’s crossbow bolts had struck and stuck to something above ground level. Also like before, Cassandra charged immediately into the mele, decimating foes left and right, though this time she had the support of Solas at her back, supplying her with barriers and blasting enemies with bolts of ice whenever he had a clear shot. With such skilled fighters working in tandem, the skirmishes ended as quickly as they began, and the party returned to plodding silently through the frozen wilderness. However, such awkward and dull silence while traveling was not something a certain dwarven author could abide. He flourished on conversation, and he had had his story senses piqued by the mysterious blind prisoner with a glowy hand, so he figured that there was no time like the present to start digging for some details on the intriguing stranger.

 

“So Toph, you said you were from the ‘Earth Kingdom’? Whereabouts, exactly?”

  
  
  


As a chatterbox herself, Toph was grateful for an outlet for all of the nervous tension that surrounded the party, even if it was in the form of a conversation about one of her least favorite subjects.

 

“I grew up on my family estate in Gaoling, but I left there to go fight in the war, and after it ended I started up a school near Yu Dao.” She offered stuff that was common knowledge, nowhere near trusting enough of these strangers to tell them anything close to personal.

  
  


“Ah-huh...”

  
  


Varric, ever a master of Wicked Grace, gave nothing away in his expression, but the looks of bafflement on his companions’ faces assured him that he was not alone in his confusion.

  
  


“Those are some...  _ interesting _ place names. You’re not from some long-lost thaig, are you?”

 

Toph cocked her head in confusion.

“What’s a thaig?”

  
  


“They’re ancient underground strongholds, built many years ago during the height of the Dwarf Empire.” Ever the scholar, had Solas decided to add in his two cents on the matter.

  
  


“Dwarf? Like, short people?” Toph wanted clarification, so she could know whether or not she should take offense to that.

  
  


“Not quite, Shorty. See, any race can have it’s occasional tiny person, but Dwarves like me,  _ we’re _ something else entirely.” Varric grinned lasciviously, and Cassandra let out an annoyed grunt at the man’s characteristic display of narcissism. The author paid the Seeker no mind, but his next words were delivered with an air of seriousness absent from his previous declaration. 

 

“Don’t you have other sorts of people where you come from?”

  
  


The party trudged onwards, voices becoming slightly more strained as they fought their way uphill. Toph had to focus twice as hard, her grip on the conversation loose at best as she concentrated on the little pillars of earth she needed to bring up to meet each step if she wanted to be able to ‘see’ past the snow -as well as make it through the day with all of her toes.

 

“*huff* Yu Dao’s got a lot of Fire Nation colonials, but somehow I don’t think that’s what you mean.” Toph paused here, frowning. “And who the heck are you calling shorty? There’s nothing wrong with my height, old man!”

  
  


Varric barked out a laugh. “Hate to break it to ya Shortstuff, but you’re the smallest one here.”

  
  


“Indeed. I had assumed you were of mixed heritage, given your connection to both the Stone and the magic of the fade.”

  
  
  


“Nope. The honorable Beifongs are 100% Earth Kingdom.” quipped Toph sarcastically, the disdain she held for her family’s elitist lifestyle obvious in her voice. “And so what if I’m the shortest? I’m 14! I still have growing to do, unlike the rest of you fossils.” Her tone was defensive, and she crossed her arms over her chest to accentuate her displeasure.

  
  
  


The bold declaration caused more than one set of footsteps to falter. Varric’s heartbeat kicked up to another gear as he let the whole Fereldan countryside know about his anger.

 

“Are you serious, Seeker? Dragging me halfway across the world to testify in front of the Divine is one thing, but locking a blind 14-year-old in a dungeon for days and then dragging them to the front lines of a war zone without even a weapon to defend themselves? I thought your precious Chantry was better than that.” He narrowed his eyes here, voice dropping to a low hiss, tempered heat and cool logic meeting to form a devastating strike, like when a red-hot sword was taken from the forge and dipped in a vat of water to cool.  “Then again, being from Kirkwall and all, you’d think I’d know better by now.”

  
  


      Cassandra’s face had shifted rapidly through all manner of colors, but by the end of Varric’s embittered speech it had settled into an angry red.

 

“She fell out of the Fade, the only survivor of the explosion of the Conclave! I did nothing but follow the evidence!” Her voice lost some of its violence here, falling into a tone that was almost weary. “And you know as well as I that the Mark is the only hope we have of closing the Breach. Trust me when I say I would not be doing this if I had a choice.” Cassandra glanced back at Toph, eyes lingering on the place where the shade had struck her during the first of their many encounters with demons. “The battlefield is no place for a child.”

  
  


    If given the choice, Toph would have voiced her protest, but instead she had to prove Cassandra wrong with actions rather than words. They had just ( _ finally _ ) crested yet another hill, and Toph had barely registered the increasingly familiar scent of lightning in the air when the Seeker’s shout of “Another rift!” drove all thoughts not related to combat completely from her mind.

  
  


“We must seal it, quickly!” added Solas, intercepting a wraith as it made to launch an attack at Toph. He knocked the ghostly projectile neatly out of the air with a swing of his staff and a well-timed spell, his next burst of arcane energy reducing the demon to a harmless pile of glowing remains.

  
  


As before, the gaggle of demons was quickly dispatched, and the second the last one disappeared Toph felt a strange sensation in her hand, like the buzzing had changed its frequency or something.

  
  


“Hurry! Use the Mark!”

  
  


Toph was quick to follow Solas’ advice, shoving her palm towards her best guess at the direction of the rift and  _ willing _ the buzzing out towards it. Apparently that was the right thing to do, as there was a short few moments of crackling connection before it broke with a ‘whoosh’ and the air was once again silent, but in that odd way from before. The one where you notice the quiet suddenly, because a background noise you didn’t even consciously register had stopped abruptly.

  
  


The heat of battle slowly seeped from the air, thundering hearts ritarding in victory and starved lungs gulping for air after unconsciously holding their breath.

  
  


“The rift is gone! Open the gate!”

  
  


Cassandra’s voice was loud in the lull after the storm, and her order was quickly obeyed, the grinding of old gates piercing the still-strange quiet. The Seeker was quick to take advantage of the obedience, armored boots loud on the cobblestone as she strode her way behind the safe-haven of the walls in her quest to locate her trusted friend. Speaking with the prisoner had done nothing but drudge up even more questions, and Cassandra was eager to discuss what she had learned with Leliana in the hopes that the Spymaster could make more sense of the information than she, Varric, and Solas had been able to.

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leliana is back, and she's brought a... friend?

4)

  
  
  


       Like the town she and Cassandra had walked through before, Toph could tell that this place was abuzz with panicked activity. Soldiers in heavy metal armor scurried every-which-way, loading and unloading supplies, caring for injured and dead, or just taking a short moment’s respite from the violent chaos unfolding around them. Among the hodgepodge crowd, she was able to identify but one familiar form: the woman who had accompanied Cassandra down in the dungeon during Toph’s initial (and fruitless) interrogation upon waking up in chains.

  
  


“We must prepare the soldiers!” she cried, Toph’s ears pricking up at the familiar satin tones.

  
  


“We will do no such thing!” That voice belonged to an older man, originating from the form squaring off with the more fleet-footed of her inquisitors. The pompous air to his voice had already set Toph’s teeth on edge.

  
  


“The prisoner must get to the Temple of Sacred Ashes. It is our only chance!” argued Leliana, her voice rising in anger and volume as Cassandra’s party approached. 

  
  


“You have already caused enough trouble without resorting to this exercise in futility.” The old man sneered, waving a hand at the bustling soldiers around them. Leliana blinked at him, genuinely dumbfounded by his take on her attempt to guide the tattered shreds of the Chantry toward something productive in this time of unparalleled crisis.

  
  


“ _ I _ have caused trouble?”

  
  


“You, Cassandra, the Most Holy – haven’t you all done enough already?”

  
  
  


His casual disparaging of the late Divine caused Leliana’s temper to flare.

 

“ You’re not in command here!” she all but snarled.

  
  


“Enough! I will not have it!” he responded, tone darkening in kind. Then he caught sight of the approaching band, and stinging sarcasm momentarily overtook the ire in his words. “Ah, here they come.”

  
  


For her part, Leliana just seemed relieved that her risk had paid off, the raging fire in her breast settling into a comfortable domestic hearth. She greeted her friend warmly, though her sharp eyes did not miss the presence of the prisoner, nor the two tagalongs Cassandra had seemed to have picked up along her way.

 

“You made it.  [ Chancellor Roderick ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fdragonage.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FCodex_entry%253A_High_Chancellor_Roderick&t=OTc4ZTdkYjIyODQ4YWEzYTJjZTM4MDRiZmI0ZDQwMDRjNzlhY2JjMCxMYUdFT28xbQ%3D%3D&b=t%3AmQjOhdFgbPkXjVGZihVwMQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fdragonagetranscripts.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F140394815452%2Fthe-wrath-of-heaven-5-at-the-forward-camp&m=1) , this is–”

  
  


Apparently the Chancellor did not support the genial shift in the conversation, as he interrupted Leliana rudely to spew more of his useless vitriol.

 

“I know who she is. As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution.”

  
  


Toph tensed, ready for a fight, but to her surprise Cassandra intervened, and far more vehemently than the earthbender had come to expect from the in-control warrior.

 

“'Order me’? You are a glorified clerk. A bureaucrat!”

  
  


“ And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!”

  
  


Hoo boy. Toph had known this guy for all of five minutes, and Cassandra less than a day, but even  _ she _ knew he had just crossed a line. 

 

Apparently Leliana knew it too, as she interjected herself back into the conversation, clearly trying to prevent the Seeker’s explosion before it happened.

 

“ We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor, as you well know.” she countered placatingly.

  
  


Chancellor Roderick must either be an idiot, have a death wish, or both, because he carried right on riding his high-(ostrich)horse.

 

“Justinia is dead! We must elect her replacement, and obey  _ her _ orders on the matter.”

  
  
  


Toph had had just about enough of this guy’s grandstanding. Plus, she was getting cold doing nothing but stand around listening to people argue instead of actually  _ doing _ something.

 

“Hey, idiot! Isn’t closing the giant hole in the sky a more pressing issue right now than your precious chain of command?”

  
  


It seemed that that was the wrong thing to say, as it only served to set off Chancellor Roderick even more. 

 

“You have no place to speak of such things!  _ You _ brought this on us in the first place!”

  
  


“As if! You crazies are the ones who kidnapped me, raving about some ‘Divine’ and her ‘Conclave’ or whatever.”

  
  


Roderick looked at Toph like she was worth less than the dirt beneath his feet, an insect doing nothing but wasting his time. He dismissed her utterly, turning his attention back to more important matters.

 

“Call a retreat, Seeker. Our position here is hopeless.”

  
  


Seeing continuing to argue as a waste of energy she could better use for fighting demons, Cassandra responded in an even tone. She was not completely submissive in the fight, however, her chin raised proudly and and a determined glint appearing in her eye.

 

“We can stop this before it’s too late.”

  
  


At last some of the wind seemed to have left the Chancellor’s sails, and his next words were tinged more with weary defeat than anger.

 

“How? You won’t survive long enough to reach the temple, even with all your soldiers.”

  
  


Cassandra stood her ground. She sensed the man’s resolve weakening, and she took a chance to turn him to her side, offering an olive branch in the form of a statement laden with pleading conviction.

 

“We must get to the temple. It’s the quickest route.”

  
  


Leliana, previously an ally against Roderick, quickly darted back into the conversation and made her own opinion known.

 

“But not the safest. Our forces can charge as a distraction while we go through the mountains.”

  
  
  


A frown erupted between the Seeker’s brows, a pang of betrayal echoing in her chest at her friend’s contradiction. She pushed it down, favoring a logical argument instead of an emotional one.

 

“ We lost contact with an entire squad on that path. It’s too risky.”

  
  


Feeling neglected, Roderick now made his own thoughts on the plan clear.

 

“Listen to me. Abandon this now, before more lives are lost.”

  
  


      Toph had a feeling that the argument would have started going around in circles again, but she had the unfortunate honor of interrupting the cycle by releasing a pained cry as the stabbing pain in her hand spiked once again.

  
  


Cassandra stood and stared, considering the girl for a moment before surprising Toph with her question.

 

“ How do  _ you _ think we should proceed?”

  
  


“ _ Now _ you’re asking me what  _ I _ think?” 

  
  


“You are the one with the Mark.” pointed out Solas, who had been carefully watching the argument between the Chanrty officials as it unfolded. Only now did he speak up, once the conversation had moved away from Andrastian politics and was now firmly back in territory he had knowledge of: Toph and her Mark.

  
  


“And you are the one we must keep alive.” added Cassandra. She turned to Toph, slightly hesitant in her shame after the wholly unprofessional argument the girl had just witnessed. “Since we cannot agree on our own…”

  
  


Toph nodded. “Right. We’ll take the mountain pass. I’m more than ready to get some real earth back under my feet.” She wiggled her bare toes on the snowy ground, and another jolt of shame passed through a watching Cassandra before she turned back around to face her fellow Hand of the Divine.

  
  


“Leliana. Bring everyone left in the valley.  _ Everyone _ .” she ordered. Clearly the decision had been made, regardless of her personal misgivings.

  
  


The other woman nodded, walking off at once to begin arranging the distracting charge. Cassandra too took her leave, leading her eclectic band of fighters towards the far gate of the forward camp. As they passed, the Chancellor spoke in a nasty yet resoundingly final tone.

 

“On your head be the consequences, Seeker.”

  
  


His parting barb weighed heavy on her shoulders as Cassandra silently led her party out into the demonic fray once more.

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS: SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNEEEEEL!

5)

  
  
  


      When they got to the mountainside, Toph took approximately five seconds to examine the rickety old ladders before declaring them a huge pile of ‘nope’.

 

“Ok, anyone else who wants to avoid those wooden death-traps come stand by me.” she announced, walking over to a bare part of the cliff face and knocking on it gently with her knuckles to double-check its density and elemental makeup.

  
  


       It had taken the combined efforts of both her and Aang to scale the outer wall of Ba Sing Se with all their passengers with the technique she had in mind, but Toph figured she could do the same height by herself right now, given the circumstances. This mountain path was set up so it could be taken in a series of smaller units, so the stilted ride a single operator would cause was, in this instance, a necessity by its very nature. Plus, stilted or not, her method would be waaaaay faster than trying to climb those stupid ladders.

  
  


Cassandra, who had already started climbing the first of the many Toph-proclaimed ‘death traps’, looked over her shoulder at the young earthbender.

 

“I beg your pardon?”

  
  


“I’m not climbing up all those ladders, so anyone else who wants a lift needs to stand next to me so you’re in range.” stated Toph bluntly, shaking out her freezing hands in preparation for some serious bending action.

  
  


“In range of what, Shortstuff?”

Varric was a little hesitant about whatever unknown magic the kid was about to perform, but honestly, it was becoming a more and more attractive option the longer he looked at the Seeker-endorsed path ahead. He was a dwarf with a giant crossbow, for Andraste’s sake! Climbing up a frozen mountainside on a bunch of old, human-sized ladders just wasn’t his cup of tea. Especially since he didn’t have a pair of gloves to keep his hands from going numb with cold while gripping all of those rungs... Yeah, he’d stick with the kid. She had been trustworthy so far, and Varric  _ really _ didn’t want to die because his frozen fingers couldn’t grip a ladder properly. What a lame story.

  
  


     Solas, too, decided to board the Beifong Express. He was curious about her magic, and eager to get a chance to observe it up close. Cassandra, outnumbered, begrudgingly released her grip on the first ladder. She dropped to the ground with a dull ‘thud’ and a cascade of ‘clanks’ courtesy of all of the loose bits of her armor. With an annoyed sigh, she plodded her way over to where the rest of her party was waiting. It was her duty to escort the prisoner to the Breach, and she would fulfill it no matter what -even if that meant following the whims of a blind child, a shifty dwarf, and a dodgy elven apostate as they conspired to try and take a magical shortcut up a mountain.

  
  


Smug smirk firmly in place, Toph cracked her knuckles one final time and raised up her arms above her head. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road. Hold on to your shirts!”

  
  
  


      And then they were off. Short upward rushes alternated with grinding bits of horizontal sliding, and the three Thedas natives were immediately grabbing on to each other for dear life. The expressions on their faces were a varied array of fear, nausea, and disbelief. Toph, on the other hand, laughed in exhilaration, dark hair flying in all directions from the speed she was able to gather during her breakneck ascent. But all too soon (at least for Toph) the ride was over, and a windswept band of fighters was stood atop the mountain, only feet away from the gaping entrance of a long-defunct mine.

  
  


“Last one inside’s a rotten egg!” Toph yelled. She raced into the dark chasm, practically preening the second her feet touched solid, snow-free earth.

  
  


      Her joy did not last very long, however. The exposed rock offered her great clarity of the path ahead, and what she could sense was not the pleasant jaunt she had been hoping for.

 

“Hey, guys, there’s more of those evil things up ahead!”

  
  


     The teenager’s shout brought the stunned trio out of their stupor, and the three adults looked at each other for barely a second before rushing headlong into the inky void.

  
  


 

* * *

  
  


      By the time they caught up to Toph, the young woman had already taken out the first band of demons. She had crushed them like bugs between twin pillars of earth that burst out quickly from opposing walls -or, on occasion, the ceiling and floor. Also like bugs, they squelched and spluttered as they exploded into goo. Wiping her soiled face with a frown, Toph made a mental note to use a different method to smite them the next time she encountered the creepy things. Sensing the others’ arrival, she turned to address them, one hand on her cocked hip.

 

“Nice of you to finally show up. C’mon. The exit’s this way.” she teased, beckoning the others with a wave of her free arm before turning on her heel and stalking further into the tunnel.

  
  


      The party followed behind Toph as she led them with sure footfalls in the darkness. Air shafts and lyrium deposits occasionally lighted the way, allowing for the conventionally-sighted to catch glimpses of the partially excavated ruins around them. They had just reached such a place, a flight of stone steps bathed in a lyrium-blue glow, when Toph held up a hand to signal a halt.

 

“Weapons out, there’s bad guys up ahead.” she announced, indicating to the particularly dark and narrow section of the tunnel that began at the steps’ zenith.

  
  


Cassandra nodded, and the hiss of a sword being drawn echoed in the cavernous space. Leather of a harness creaked as Solas’ staff slid free, and Bianca’s mechanisms clicked as they were shifted into place. Without warning, the glowing green of a Wraith’s projectile came barreling down the tunnel from up ahead, and Solas was just able to get a barrier in place before it impacted, exploding in a burst of emerald sparks at the center of Toph’s chest.

 

“Ooph!” she grunted, having to stabilize herself on the wall with one hand as she was pushed back and winded by the blow. Cassandra shouldered the girl aside, stepping forward and catching the demon’s next blast on her shield. Simultaneously, Varric loosed a bolt from Bianca, the shot flying true and turning the angry Wraith to nothing but a pile of gooey remains. 

  
  


      The limited space meant both parties had to fight in single file, but that actually worked to the quartet’s advantage. The next enemy up to the plate reminded Toph of a boar-q-pine, what with all the spikes it had all over its body. Learning from her past mistakes, the young earthbender erected a defensive slab in front of her body to protect from splashback before dropping a thick slab of ceiling on the freako and squashing it flatter than a pancake. Unfortunately for Cassandra, Toph’s splash shield had not been placed in such a way that it protected her as well, and the Seeker was now covered head to toe in demon bits. She ground her teeth at the sensation, but shoved it quickly from her mind. As an experienced warrior, she knew vanity had no place on the battlefield. (However, if the next time she flicked the gore from her sword, some just so  _ happened _ to land on Toph’s breastplate, that was most assuredly not on purpose. She was a grown woman, a Hand of the Divine! She would never sink so low as to engage in what amounted to a muck fight with a child. The great Cassandra Penteghast was above that.)

  
  


 

* * *

  
  
  


      When they finally exited the dank mine tunnel and emerged into the sun, most of the party needed a moment to adjust to the sudden influx of light. Toph did not. She tensed up immediately, shoulders by her ears, as she was forced to navigate across a cobblestone patio littered with corpses.

  
  


“Guess we found the soldiers...” observed Varric with a sigh, features drawn as his eyes flickered between the tattered piles of cloth and flesh that used to be Leliana’s scouts.

  
  


“That cannot be all of them.” said Cassandra, and Toph wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a plea.

  
  


“So the others could be holed up ahead?” asked Varric hopefully.

  
  


Solas shook his head dismissively, stepping over a corpse without looking at it and starting down the dirt path ahead.

 

“Our priority must be the Breach. Unless we seal it soon, no one is safe.”

  
  


Varric snorted, but followed the elf’s lead. “I’m leaving  _ that  _ to the kid with the glowing hand.” he joked.

  
  


“Gee, thanks.”

 

The teenager sounded anything but grateful, but secretly she was happy to have some lighter conversation to focus on instead of the pain in her hand and the dead at her feet.

  
  



End file.
